Case Study

Online grocery retailing: Building the last mile to the customer

16 pages
August 2000
Reference: IMD-5-0570

Online grocery retailing, despite its unproven track record, had generated a substantial amount of interest by mid-2000. Although no online grocery retailer had managed to develop a business model that consistently delivered profits and created value for the customer, several companies touted value propositions and fulfillment models that hoped to overcome the challenges facing the industry. In the case study, five companies with different fulfillment models are presented. These include Streamline, Webvan, and NetGrocer, all headquartered in the US, as well as Tesco Direct and Le Shop, both based in Europe. Participants will be challenged to think about which online grocer creates the most value for customers and which grocer will likely be able to overcome the challenge of fulfillment, i.e. building the last mile to the customer.

Keywords
Internet, Retail, Supply Chain, Grocery
Settings
Europe, United States of America
2000
Type
Published Sources
Copyright
© 2000
Available Languages
English
Related material
Teaching note
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